For retention of air vented fuel or gas, which is expelled during the refueling process of fixed fuel or gas tanks in a pleasure or commercial vessel. Most all fuel tanks are vented over the side of the vessel; hence when the tank is near full, it starts to expel fuel or gas over the side of the boat into the water. It is a hazard to the environment, also a danger to human life and property. The U.S. Coast Guard has seen fit to impose large fines to deter this from happening. But there are still large amounts of fuel being spilled into our waterways, lakes and oceans from the same process of filling tanks every day. Much of this same fuel or gas can be seen on our waters as its film spreads and its rainbow effects can be seen and smelled from some distance away. People who go to sea want to be assured their fuel tanks are full, so when the fuel comes to the top of their tanks, and spills fuel out of the fuel air vent, they will repeat the process, spilling more fuel into the water. Seldom will this fuel be retrieved with sorbent pads without an official nearby. Nor will the person turn himself in or the fuel attendant turn his customer into the proper officials. At this point the government may have it cleaned at the tax payer's expense. Prior art to address this problem has been submitted by Wallace E. Briles in U.S. Pat No. 4,696,330, his application was for fixed stationary fuel tanks which comprise of a manhold, downspout and airvent. While the same parts are used in the Marine Fuel Bib, his application would not be feasible for fixed fuel tanks on marine vessels. Charles E. Wilkinson, Jr. also devised a catch basin for spilt waste in U.S. Pat. No. 5,22,534, the application for which it was designed has the same object in mind but also is not feasible of the task of collecting waste fuels from marine vessels.
These applications are designed for very specific methods for collection of waste; however, neither of these applications addresses the waste from the marine fueling process. Our waterways are in dire need of a fuel collection system that will catch these fuels before polluting the waters.